By Andrew Liszewski
If the day ever comes when I decide to embrace responsibility and buy a house I’m putting Kohler fixtures in every room. I’ve always thought their designers rank up there with Apple’s when it comes to clean, modern looks. Well it seems Kohler is going high-tech as well with their new Digital Thermostatic Valve (DTV) technology that can regulate the flow of water based on temperature.
What does that mean? Well imagine taking your morning shower and being able to set the water to 90 degrees, and have the shower maintain that exact temperature the entire time. The waterproof touch-screen interface can also be used to control up to 8 shower heads allowing them to be programmed with individual speeds, pressures and even temperatures.
The downside? The Kohler DTV Shower System isn’t exactly a weekend do-it-yourself project, and will require a professional installation in addition to it’s $2000 price tag.
[Kohler DTV Shower System] VIA [Gearlog]
Kohler DTV Touchscreen Shower Controller…
Not long ago, taking a shower involved just turning the knobs on a couple of plumbing fixtures and waiting for the water to heat up. Now Kohler takes that simple task to the next level with DTV (Digital Thermostatic Valve),……
[…] When I have a shower in my home the temperature can change by 30 degrees or more in the couple of minutes I am getting wet. Not pleasant. That?s what makes the Kohler DTV shower system so cool. DTV stands for digital thermostatic valve. The waterproof touch screen goes right in your shower and lets you set the exact temperature you want you shower to stay at for your whole shower. It can even control up to 8 showerheads at a time. 8! Up to now I have been content with one, but now that feels so inadequate. It costs $2,000 plus a mess of professional installation, but think of how cool it would be. (Oh Gizmo!) […]
What if you empty your hot water tank? Is there some special way it would keep it hot?
If your going to run all the 6 or 8 showerheads all at once…then you probably want a pretty big water heater…like 100 gallons +.
I don’t think any consumer inline water heaters can keep up with the DTV’s 21 gallons a minute flow! Tremendous shower experience!
Yeah – looking at other product lines though (like the water fall shower) on Kohler’s site, it appears some of their showers actually recycle the water going down the drain using an electric pump in the wall. That would keep the water flowing for less $$, but I wonder if the grey water’s filtered…
I’ve installed a water heater by bosch that heats the water as you use it. not only does it save me money on the gas bill but it can run hot water to two appliances simotaniously with out feeling the chills or scholding hot burns. I think as long as you have 50+ water pressure this unit would be a good answer to the worlds greatest shower.
Never heard of Kohler before, but with that price tag I’m unlikely to buy it.. Might have a look around see if i can get a nice shower similar to this but for about 10% of the price!
never heard of kohler, Damn, right now they are the big boys of bathrooms.
the dtv is quite a nice piece. i just install one in a non-working display (that’s right, it’s just there for show, nice use of the money eh! 🙂 ), and am waiting on some of the media conponents to arrive so i can finish a full working DTV display (steam, streaming audio, color rain head thing, wall tiles, blah blah blah). all seems well designed, and the finished experience is unreal.
kohlers bodyspa waterfall/body jet tower recycles the water in the tub through a grate, exactly like a whirlpool, and at 60gallons/min it pounds the water out. with four of the ten jets on full, it’ll pin you to the wall. the idea behind it, is to have a shower bath first, so your clean, and the water is clean, then have your water wasting fun.
I just took my second shower using my custom Kohler DTV. I installed 3 shower heads and 2 water-tiles plus a handheld (there are 6 ports on the valve unit). I have it in the shape of a cross with 1 shower head for the head, 2 for the sholders, 1 water-tile for upper back and 1 water-tile for lower back. I guess the hand-held is in-case you miss a spot 🙂
But (and you knew there was a but), with all 5 heads/tiles running at 104 degrees, I emptied my 85gallon hot water tank in about 12 minutes. I’ve adjusted the heat in the water tank up two notches and will see what difference that makes. I am still in experiment mode, so if someone has suggestions, I would like to hear them.
Kohler DTV: Not ready for Prime Time
So… after a major (down to the studs) rework of the master bathroom…and the installation of what was to be “Shower Nirvana” (Kohler tiles system and DTV, a 12″ rain head and a french shower…plus Noritz ‘Always hot’ bottomless hot water heater)…I am taking baths and crappy showers in my guest bathroom….all thanks to Kohler’s “not ready for prime time” DTV computer controller.
All my contractor can get out of the unit is “all on” flow and no display on the controiler unit, just a blank blue screen…(eerily reminiscent of the Windows ‘blue screen of death’ I sometimes see on my laptop).
First Kohler sent a new cable (“we’ve had problems with cables” they said = 3 weeks)…the cable arrived today…same problem…’oh, it must be the power supply” they now claim…”oh, too bad…that is on a 28 day backlog” (guess they must be having lots of problems with that component too)…
Lessons learned….
My advice is ‘Go manual”…save yourself thousands of dollars and a bunch of heartache.
Nice idea Kohler…nice ads…next time spend less on advertising and more on R&D. Oh, and by the way..”take it up with your distributor” is not a satisfactory escalation to a dissatisfied customer.
I have DTV and it is an awesome experience. I'm having a minor problem with the Thermostatic control valve in that the second fixture is very slow closing and sometimes sticks. Not an easy fix, since it is embedded in the wall, behind tile. I can live with it, but if goes out completely, I'm in a wolrd of hurt.
I have DTV and it is an awesome experience. I'm having a minor problem with the Thermostatic control valve in that the second fixture is very slow closing and sometimes sticks. Not an easy fix, since it is embedded in the wall, behind tile. I can live with it, but if goes out completely, I'm in a wolrd of hurt.
I have DTV and it is an awesome experience. I'm having a minor problem with the Thermostatic control valve in that the second fixture is very slow closing and sometimes sticks. Not an easy fix, since it is embedded in the wall, behind tile. I can live with it, but if goes out completely, I'm in a wolrd of hurt.